Student death shocks school community

Friday

Jan 11, 2008 at 2:00 AM

Memory Book Vaughn Peterson Remembered

By Margaret Carroll-Bergman

I&M Staff Writer

School officials moved quickly this week to provide grief counseling for students, faculty and friends mourning the death of 15-year-old Vaughn Mitchell Peterson, who took his own life Saturday morning.

Peterson’s mother Linda, the schools’ food service director, found his body at their Cow Pond Lane home Saturday afternoon. School

officials on Saturday evening canceled the Friends of the Nantucket Public Schools spelling bee, and brought in counselors to meet with students and faculty in the high school cafeteria.

Peterson’s was the first student death by

suicide or accident in more than two decades at Nantucket High School. Funeral services will be held Saturday at St. Mary's Church.

“It’s a difficult time when you lose a youngster. It rips the community apart asking ‘Why’?” schools superintendent Robert Pellicone said.

“It was such a tragedy. Vaughn touched an awful lot of people. His friends spanned a lot of grade levels and interest groups,” Nantucket High School principal George Kelly said. “He was friendly with kids involved in music, athletics, dramatics. He was a popular kid. We are going to miss him a lot.

“I feel helpless when I see Linda and her daughters. There are no answers,” he added. “Vaughn has touched a lot of people. Linda Peterson is a second mother to a lot of kids.”

It may never be fully known why Peterson decided to take his own life, but family members said that he had been depressed and battling personal demons in recent weeks.

About 50 students made their way to the school within hours of hearing about Peterson’s death Saturday, many with eyes red from tears.

Another 60 or more students, faculty and parents – including Peterson’s sister Vanessa Orozco – arrived the following morning, when memorials to the talented freshman football player and music fan who attended more than 25 rock concerts were posted on bulletin boards in the hallway.

Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger

Islanders stop to read a memorial to Vaughn Peterson Monday night while a community meeting was held in the auditorium in response to the 15-year old's death.

“Some of the kids said they have never written so much before in their lives,” said Nancy Larrabee, the school’s director of athletics, health and physical education. “We had a basket of yellow ribbons. They could either wear a ribbon or tack it to their message. A yellow ribbon at a time like this relates to the brightness of life and the desire to keep the memory alive.”

Counselors from the school, A Safe Place, Nantucket Behavioral Health Services and the Interfaith Council were available throughout the week at the school to talk to students and faculty.

Of most pressing and immediate concern to counselors and school officials was the possibility of the “copy-cat effect.”

“You as parents need to be aware that when a young person commits suicide or attempts suicide, there is often a reoccurrence with immediate friends, kids who abuse drugs and alcohol, or kids with a history of depression,” said Stephanie Weubbens, director of clinical services for Nantucket Behavioral Health Services, during a community meeting at the school Monday night. “Listen for the warning signs.”

Those signs include depression, trouble sleeping, trouble eating, or eating more than usual, Weubbens said.

Within minutes of learning about the suicide, school counselors were sent to Peterson’s home and to the homes of students identified as being at risk, Kelly said.

Those most at risk are the students already struggling to cope with added stress in their lives, like divorce, the loss of a family member to death, and drug and alcohol abuse, Kelly said. “A death dredges these problems to the forefront,” he said.

Those closest to Peterson are also particularly vulnerable at this time.

“We are trying to identify these kids that haven’t gotten onto our radar. Lots of us know the young people who are slipping through the cracks,” said Peter Swenson, director of Nantucket Behavioral Health Services.

“We are now in full-blown crisis mode,” he continued. “The community is like a body and when the body is struck by an acute crisis, you do triage. Right now, we are doing a triage in the high school.” The grieving will go on for some time, Swenson said. “This is a long process. It lasts a long time. This is a difficult time for adults as well. There is a four- to six-week period we have to get through. We are going to do everything we can to help the school.”

Seeking help

On Monday night, parents were urged to seek immediate help for their children if they start showing signs of serious depression or indicate they are contemplating suicide, no matter how difficult it may seem at the time.

“If you hear your child say ‘I just want to die,’ ask them how long they’ve been thinking this and if they have a plan,” Weubbens said.

Help is available, Swenson added.

“If you have a concern about a child, call one of the resources listed in the paper (Behavioral Health Services can be reached at 508-228-2689; other resources are also listed on this page) and get help,” Swenson said. “If you think your child needs help, call and get help.”

During his career, Pellicone has dealt with six teenage suicides in school districts in New York and Pennsylvania. “We have assembled a great crisis team here,” he said. “We are an isolated community and rely on each other. We have trained professionals who have the skills and the ability and are trained to deal with loss and grief.”

It has been more than 40 years since a Nantucket High School student committed suicide. On Aug. 19, 1965, Sally W. Sample, 17; and William W. Yarmy, 18, took their own lives together. By 5 p.m. Saturday, grief counselors were available at the high school. The school opened its doors again Sunday morning.

“Many of the students were obviously distraught, but they were there for one another,” said Kelly, who early Sunday morning spoke to the students, many of whom were friends of Peterson and searching for answers. “There are no easy answers for Vaughn’s death. There are no easy answers for how to deal with it,” he told them. “We’ll get through it one day at a time.”

Orozco also spoke to the students.

“Death is real and you can’t take it back,” she said. “Drugs and alcohol are not the answer.”

Orozco also showed a video clip of Peterson as a young boy, a haunting image of a happy child that brought tears to the eyes of many gathered in the Large Group Instruction room. “All of our students and staff felt the need for counseling either from the professionals or from each other,” said Kelly. “About a quarter of the students and some of the faculty used the services of the professional counselors.”

On Monday, school reopened with faculty and staff meeting at 7 a.m. and at 8 a.m., there was a high school assembly followed by another school meeting at the close of the day.

“It was a very challenging day, very emotional,” said Kelly.

School officials and counselors were also on hand Monday night to answer parent questions. “It struck my heart that we have the best crisis team,” Pellicone said. “They pulled together not only for the school, but for the community.”

The mood at the school was respectful and quiet on Monday. Students attended their classes and were excused to take advantage of the counseling services.

By the end of the day, the bulletin board in the lobby was a patchwork quilt of hand-written notes, tributes, letters and drawings. Some of the messages were simple, like “Rest in Peace, Vaughn;” another contained the promise “We will never forget you;” and some were more somber, “A piece of us had died with you.”

Teachers took their students to read the postings. Many students sat down and reflected, or wrote their own message.

“We made sure that a student was never alone in the hallway,” said Larrabee. “Some were very upset. Some did not know how they felt, but after talking for a bit, decided they wanted to see a counselor.”

Larrabee said that between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. there was a constant flow of children through her office, where the counseling took place. About half a dozen children have chosen to stay home from school since Monday.

“The kids want to be here with their friends,” said Cheryl Coffin, high school secretary.

“Some of the kids returned later in the day. Some needed to see a counselor and some said they needed to chill. They spent a lot of time talking about junior high days,” said Larrabee. “I’ve never seen a group of kids pull together and support each other like this.”

“You should be proud of your children. We’ve asked them to be the eyes and ears and to pay particular attention to friends who may be having a difficult time,” she said. “They’ve been doing this for their whole lives.”

Pellicone and Swenson said they plan to reconstruct the last weeks of Peterson’s life to see what gaps there are in the behavioral services for students.

“We’ll work through the last weeks of this person’s life and see what he went through,” said Swenson. “Sometimes you don’t miss anything and it still happens. As a parent of two children, that’s the thing that scares me the most because sometimes you don’t miss anything.” “We’ll look at the gaps and how to fill them,” he added. “What do we do at the funeral? What do we do next year on Feb. 3?”

Memory Book Vaughn Peterson Remembered

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